Princess Jane
by Tearjerker22
Summary: Jane is a plain, simple peasant girl who dreams of becoming so much more. But is her dream life all it's cracked up to be? A simple, somewhat predictable fairy tale.


Disclaimer: We own these characters, with a few exceptions that we hope you recognize!

**Princess Jane**

"'Once upon a time…' As _if_!"

Jane closed her book with a _snap_, tossing it disgustedly into the bucket swinging by her side. Her mother had always nagged her about the books that she carried around, but books were Jane's only release from her boring, routine life. However, not even a book could brighten Jane's mood today.

"Nothing _ever_ happens to me," she hissed resentfully under her breath. "I just do the same ol' thing every day. I doubt that anyone even cares that I exist - not even Mother or Dad!"

Trudging uphill towards the well at the peak, Jane sidestepped a little boy tumbling head-over-heels downward. A little girl chased after him, almost toppling over herself, yelling, "Jack! Jack! Are you okay?"

Jane sneered at the boy's tumbling form. 'Does he have to fall down every day?' she thought. 'Even this part of the day is starting to get old!'

Approaching the well, she reached into her pocket and drew out a coin, flipping it neatly into its depths. It was an old superstition that if one _didn't_ put a coin into the well before drawing water, they would have bad luck for the rest of their life. Though it had never happened to anyone, people continued the custom anyway.

Instead of filling up her water bucket and leaving immediately as her mother had bade, Jane threw the bucket at the base of the well and flopped on the grass beside it. As they had many times before, Jane's eyes strayed to the castle on the hill adjoining the one on which she sat, the castle where King Lionel resided with his daughter, Arianna.

Not for the first time, Jane felt envious of the castle's inhabitants, most particularly Arianna, who, according to local rumors, was right around Jane's age. She had only seen the princess once or twice, but it was enough to determine that Arianna looked like every princess should, with long blond hair and large blue eyes. With her own straight brown hair, brown eyes, and freckles galore, Jane felt plain in comparison.

"How come some people get all the luck?" she wondered aloud, knowing that if anyone wandered by, she'd be caught talking to herself.

"Princess Arianna has everything," Jane mused. "It's all so unfair! I bet she's never had to lift a finger in her life. I bet she doesn't have to slop the pigs or feed the horses. She probably has servants and valets that do everything for her." Jane felt her anger rising at the unfairness of life.

Jane sprang to her feet, imagining that her brown hair was transformed into long, golden locks. For an instant, she pretended that she was Princess Arianna. She waved at invisible crowds and admirers, fawned over her crowns and jewels, and looked down her nose at a rebellious servant. However, the sight of her drab, dark brown dress brought her crashing back to reality. With a sigh, Jane flopped back on the ground.

"I wish…" Jane said dreamily. "…I wish that I were Princess Arianna. I wish that I could be a princess, and have servants and everything."

She sighed impatiently, glaring at the castle in the distance. "Yeah, right. Like that'll happen!"

With one last glance at the imposing building, Jane hopped to her feet and scooped the bucket into her hands, dumping her book onto the ground. With one swift, practiced move, she filled the pail with well water, grabbed her paperback, and set off towards home, failing to see how the water bubbled up and spilled over the edges of the well.

Her sisters were fighting - again. Jane rolled her eyes as she set about doing her chores, ignoring the screaming and hair pulling occurring in the next room. Dinner had been served and eaten, and it was her job to clean up the table. With four brothers and two sisters, her family made quite a mess of the table at suppertime.

Jane decided to turn in early after clearing the table. Feeling weary after her long, boring, routine day, she trudged up the stairs to the bedroom she shared with her two sisters. For once, she would get first choice of the beds without having to endure her sisters' nightly rituals of arguing. After climbing into the middle one, Jane fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Jane awoke when someone gently, almost reverently, shook her shoulder. A voice broke through her groggy stupor, calling a name—though it wasn't her own.

"Princess? Princess Arianna?" a hesitant, unfamiliar voice questioned. "It's time for you to wake up."

'Princess Arianna?' Jane thought groggily. 'What is this lady talking about? Is she dense or something?'

"What?" she mumbled.

"Princess, you must wake up," the voice sounded stronger now, as if it were surer of her mission.

"What did you call me?" Jane managed, her eyes still closed in an effort to fight against awareness.

"Princess Arianna, of course! Now please, miss. You must get up, or I will get in trouble."

Jane's brain hurried to catch up with the new information, but her heart was quicker than her head. Her pulse pounded excitedly. Had she really become Princess Arianna, like she'd wished? Had her dream really come true?

There was one way to find out for sure. Jane fought against unconsciousness with a strange excitement, struggling to force her eyes open, but her world remained black. Confused, Jane reached up to feel her eyes, making sure that they were open. Indeed, they were; she felt her eyelids blink against her fingertips. Though her eyes were open, she still couldn't see anything beyond black.

"Why can't I see?" Jane's voice trembled, but she knew the answer even before the unknown voice replied.

Princess Arianna – _she_ – was blind.

Jane had no time whatsoever to recover from this revelation, as servants surrounded her from all around, attacking her with everything from brushes to accessories. Of course, she didn't know what anyone was doing to her, since she had to rely on her remaining senses to enlighten her. Before she knew it, Jane was dressed (at least she hoped she was dressed). She was whisked away down numerous staircases that she could not see and into a room where she was served breakfast.

Breakfast was torture. She knocked her fork on the floor numerous times and spilled syrup in her scrambled eggs. After all this, Jane barely had time to swallow a few bites of sticky, sweet waffles before being hurried along into the rose garden, where she was left alone for the first time all morning.

"You'll be just fine if you stay on the path!" One of the many voices told her. "The roses look…um…_smell_ so nice today."

With those words, utter silence befell the fragrant gardens. With a sigh, Jane felt her way down the path to an adjoining wall, momentarily getting caught in a rose bush that seemed to be nothing but thorns. Feeling even wearier as Arianna than she had as Jane—and ten times more confused—she leaned back onto the cool stone behind her. She was farther away from the wall than she had thought and the impact was therefore harder than expected.

Jane had only rested for a moment when she heard a thunderous crash from behind the wall, startling her back into the rosebush. A voice came to her ears through the thick stone.

"Oi, guys! Somebo'y pushed Humpty offa the wall!"

Horrified, Jane scuttled away from the scene of the crime, tripping over stones in her path and reaching out blindly with her hands.

'This is the worst day of my life,' she thought miserably, close to tears. Suddenly, her hands came into contact with a solid object.

"There yo' are, Princess!" said another strange voice. She'd met so many new people today that everyone's voices were beginning to sound alike.

"Yo've been in the garden long enough, Princess. It's time for yo' to get your exercise."

"Exercise?" Jane asked, feeling the now-familiar terror that encompassed her whenever she thought of doing anything without her sight.

"Yes, miss. Come on."

Again, she was whisked away to who-knows-where, though she could sense that she was still outdoors. Jane tripped repeatedly over unseen objects in her path, but the servant dragged her along briskly. Finally, a somewhat familiar odor filled her nostrils, and Jane's sightless eyes widened in fright. They were at the stables! They must be expecting her to mount one of those…those…_monsters_ without sight!

"Here's Falada, Princess. Yo' know 'ow to mount up," the voice said. Her hands were moved onto a warm, fuzzy surface, and Jane immediately drew back with a startled gasp.

For as long as she remembered, Jane had always been terrified of horses. She had been unable to ride one when she could see, and now they wanted her to ride _blind_?

"C'mon, Princess. Yo' need your exercise."

Before she could protest, Jane was pushed seven feet into the air and onto Falada's back. Her body was now trembling with fright and confusion as her hands gripped the reins tightly. She was jerked back when the horse began to move, slowly at first, then into a gracefully bouncy trot.

"I want to get off," Jane choked, her throat clogged with tears.

"Beggin' your pardon, Princess, but yo' can't. The doctor said yo' must ride for fifteen minutes."

The next quarter of an hour felt like an eternity as Falada trotted around in circles with her petrified rider clinging to her back. Finally, the servant clucked twice to the horse and pulled the reins to stop. At lost last, Jane was able to slide off, her legs nearly buckling with relief.

"Good job, Princess," a new servant praised. "Now, yo' have 'bout an 'alf hour until lunchtime, so yo' can rest in the library."

This time, Jane barely noticed the servant as he dragged her back through the garden and into the castle. They traveled through the maze of rooms until the servant lowered her into a soft, comfortable armchair that smelled faintly of mildew.

"Stay 'ere until we come get yo'," the servant instructed, then the room fell silent at his departure. Almost immediately, Jane's eyes filled with tears. She didn't think that she'd ever been as tired as she was now, and it was only lunchtime! The confusion of the day had taken its toll and Jane's shoulders shook with the sobs that she could no longer suppress.

"This is more excitement than I wanted," she whispered miserably, tears spilling over her cheeks. She blinked her eyes rapidly, fighting sleep. "I just wish I were Jane again."

The blackness eventually won out, and Jane finally surrendered to the comfort of sleep.

Jane awoke with a gasp. Sitting upright in bed, she blinked her eyes repeatedly. She could see! She wasn't blind! Jane glanced around at her familiar surroundings, taking comfort in the sight of her sisters' sleeping forms.

Had it all been a dream? Had she really 'become' princess Arianna?

Jane had never been so relieved to have chores to do. _Anything_ was better than having _nothing_ to do—as she had discovered. As she made her customary walk up the hill to fetch a pail of water, she smiled and even laughed a little at the sight of Jack wobbling by on crutches.

Once again, Jane stood at the top of the hill and gazed at the castle on the adjoining slope. She no longer envied Princess Arianna. Indeed, she couldn't imagine how _anyone_ would want such a life. Jane now knew that no other life would suit her but her own.

As if Jane's imaginings had conjured her, Princess Arianna appeared in the castle garden in the exact place where Humpty had been knocked off the wall in—_had_it only been a dream? Jane continued to watch the princess and was startled when Arianna turned, her blue, sightless eyes locking with Jane's.

'That's impossible,' Jane reminded herself, but the princess's next action caused her doubts to crumble at her feet.

Her eyes still seemingly locked with Jane's, Arianna's left eyelid dropped in a distinct wink. Then, with one graceful, fluid movement, the princess turned down the garden path and disappeared into the dark depths of the castle.

(A/N): Please review, but be nice! We wrote this in tenth grade for an English assignment. We know it's corny, predictable, cliche, etc. Despite its flaws, though, we still liked the idea behind it and thought we'd share it with all of you!


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